I turned 65 in August and thus started my life under Medicare. Part A is free, Part B has a fee and there are supplemental plans from independent insurers for a fee. I got signed up for everything, but have had nothing but problems with the Medicare Part B billing.
It all started when they assessed me a rich man's tax of $294.60 per month on top of the normal person's $134 per month rate for 2017. That extra amount is called an "Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount" or IRMAA for short. I was bumped up into the top category as a result of a large company incentive payment in 2015 to encourage me and hundreds of others to retire. Fortunately there is a form SSA-44 which allowed me to prove that I am now a poor man. They accepted me into the poor man's club and the IRMAA assessment was eliminated.
The problem is my first Medicare Part B bill still had it included, so after a long phone call they told me to ignore it and just pay the $134 x 3 months for Aug, Sep and Oct. So I did. But then I got a bill for some mysterious amount of $160.60 and another series of phone calls ensued, which resulted in them telling me to ignore it as it's a problem in their system. One month later I got another bill for that same amount, this time labeled delinquent bill. So a third series of long phone calls occur and again it is deemed a problem in their system that would eventually work itself out. By now my NOV bill is coming due, so I asked them if it would screw anything up if I paid for the next 3 months. They said that would be a good idea so I stuck the payment in the mail that day. Keep in mind before my first payment I signed up for an automatic payment option, but since the amount owed according to the erroneous bills was more than my monthly amount, the automatic payments weren't processed.
So at least I think I'm good for a few months. Right? Not so fast my friend. I got a letter yesterday saying my Medicare Part B was stopped due to late payment. I paid by credit card and confirmed it had been posted to my account, although it took them about a week and a half to post it from when I mailed the payment. It was too late to call yesterday, but because of my pre-existing conditions this is a nightmare scenario that I wanted to avoid at all costs. If my insurance gets terminated, nobody is going to want to insure me for anything that I could afford.
So rather than initiate a 4th round of phone calls I decide to head to the local Social Security office just to talk to someone face-to-face. Unfortunately that was a wasted trip. They told me I would need to call Medicare and ask for a supervisor. So I did. When I asked for a supervisor the person that answered said he could help me. This is when my luck seems to have turned for the better. And believe me I was so stressed out since yesterday I could have had a heart attack worrying about this. It turns out the guy on the phone was the same guy I talked to last month and he remembered working this issue. He looked and said they had already reinstated my coverage so I could ignore the letter. They still haven't figured out if the $160.60 has gotten out of the system, but at least I have a surplus of funds due to paying ahead for the next few months.
I know this story is boring to most of you, but I thought there may be others that are going through this phase in their life. And I had to get it off my chest anyway. I don't know if this saga will come back in January when the next payment is due or not. Hopefully it will be all sorted out and the automatic payment thing will work like it's supposed to. But even more important, I hope I get a correct bill to pay, which has yet to occur.
Thanks for letting me blowing off steam. Now lets go beat the Cowpokes.
It all started when they assessed me a rich man's tax of $294.60 per month on top of the normal person's $134 per month rate for 2017. That extra amount is called an "Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount" or IRMAA for short. I was bumped up into the top category as a result of a large company incentive payment in 2015 to encourage me and hundreds of others to retire. Fortunately there is a form SSA-44 which allowed me to prove that I am now a poor man. They accepted me into the poor man's club and the IRMAA assessment was eliminated.
The problem is my first Medicare Part B bill still had it included, so after a long phone call they told me to ignore it and just pay the $134 x 3 months for Aug, Sep and Oct. So I did. But then I got a bill for some mysterious amount of $160.60 and another series of phone calls ensued, which resulted in them telling me to ignore it as it's a problem in their system. One month later I got another bill for that same amount, this time labeled delinquent bill. So a third series of long phone calls occur and again it is deemed a problem in their system that would eventually work itself out. By now my NOV bill is coming due, so I asked them if it would screw anything up if I paid for the next 3 months. They said that would be a good idea so I stuck the payment in the mail that day. Keep in mind before my first payment I signed up for an automatic payment option, but since the amount owed according to the erroneous bills was more than my monthly amount, the automatic payments weren't processed.
So at least I think I'm good for a few months. Right? Not so fast my friend. I got a letter yesterday saying my Medicare Part B was stopped due to late payment. I paid by credit card and confirmed it had been posted to my account, although it took them about a week and a half to post it from when I mailed the payment. It was too late to call yesterday, but because of my pre-existing conditions this is a nightmare scenario that I wanted to avoid at all costs. If my insurance gets terminated, nobody is going to want to insure me for anything that I could afford.
So rather than initiate a 4th round of phone calls I decide to head to the local Social Security office just to talk to someone face-to-face. Unfortunately that was a wasted trip. They told me I would need to call Medicare and ask for a supervisor. So I did. When I asked for a supervisor the person that answered said he could help me. This is when my luck seems to have turned for the better. And believe me I was so stressed out since yesterday I could have had a heart attack worrying about this. It turns out the guy on the phone was the same guy I talked to last month and he remembered working this issue. He looked and said they had already reinstated my coverage so I could ignore the letter. They still haven't figured out if the $160.60 has gotten out of the system, but at least I have a surplus of funds due to paying ahead for the next few months.
I know this story is boring to most of you, but I thought there may be others that are going through this phase in their life. And I had to get it off my chest anyway. I don't know if this saga will come back in January when the next payment is due or not. Hopefully it will be all sorted out and the automatic payment thing will work like it's supposed to. But even more important, I hope I get a correct bill to pay, which has yet to occur.
Thanks for letting me blowing off steam. Now lets go beat the Cowpokes.
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